Teaching the Story: Fiction Writing in Grades 4-8

By Carol Baldwin

Book Overview

Take the mystery out of teaching creative writing to middle-school students with Carol Baldwin's book of mini-lessons! The middle grades are a time of blossoming creativity. Students are reading more... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1934338354
• ISBN13: 9781934338353
• Release Date: October 2008
• Publisher: Maupin House Publishing
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 8.4" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

Fiction writing in Middle school

Carol Baldwin has a way to teach creative writing. She taught fiction writing to my son in middle school and helped release a love for writing. We as parents are very grateful to her and her book is a great tool for it.

Great for classroom or homeschool!

Carol Baldwin's new book is a must-have for any English teacher's library! As a former middle school English teacher who has taught using these lessons and as a current homeschool mom, I can most enthusiastically recommend this volume. It's perfect, especially for those teachers who have very little training in writing or teaching short stories. The book is very thorough and gives plenty of "meat," plenty of concrete & objective instruction, without being complicated or overly technical. The lessons are short and to-the-point, and as Carol points out, can be used in any order and customized to meet classroom (or homeschool) needs. Here at last is practical, authentic instruction by a real author and not unusable theory from the ivory tower. Carol sets high standards for student achievement and provides a reliable roadmap for reaching those goals; the book establishes easy-to-use criteria for evaluating what can often be seen as very subjective. This manual gives real tools for improving student work. Another benefit of using this material is the enhanced understanding of great literature that is bound to follow. Students who have plowed through their own writing projects using these lessons will certainly be more aware of and appreciative of the craft of the great authors they read. For teachers who have traditionally dreaded the yearly creative writing unit, this book is a confidence builder. It will inspire you with enthusiasm for teaching -- and even for writing a short story yourself! I plan to use TEACHING THE STORY with my own children at home as soon as they are old enough. It's practically a no-fail prospect!

Teaching the Story: Fiction Writing in Middle School

Teaching the Story by Carol Baldwin turns those dreaded writing assignments into fun and exciting events for middle school students and their teachers. This curriculum guide is practical and flexible. Teachers can devote a couple of weeks or an entire semester to its content. They can also pick and choose from the mini-lessons and worksheets for use throughout the year in grades four through eight. Carol's practical steps to creative writing and revising will help prepare students for standardized writing tests. They will also help students to gain skill in peer evaluations and in planning their writing in a logical, sequential manner. These skills are bound to improve student fiction and non-fiction writing in language arts, social studies, and science. The accompanying CD makes reproducing the transparancies and worksheets a cinch. Thanks, Carol, for planting the seeds for a future generation of great writers.

An easy-to-use, fun plan for teaching fiction writing!

A superb tool! She answers the question, "Why teach fiction writing?" and breaks down the process into bite-size pieces that are easy to use and simply explained. I love the flexibility in her system; she shows you how to adapt it to your needs and circumstances. One of the best features is the plethora of concrete examples and sample sentences she provides to "show" (rather than just "tell") you how to teach each concept. Throughout the book she stresses "showing" characters and plot through dialog and actions, rather than just telling a story. A CD is included for you to print off numerous worksheets, examples, and excerpts to aid your teaching, all of which are clearly referenced in the book's margins so you know exactly where to use them. A most valuable resource!